Parker University Online Bachelor of Science in Strength and Human Performance

Parker's online bachelor's is built around the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Its strength and conditioning concentration carries the NSCA's programmatic accreditation, ends in a 300-hour internship anywhere in the country, and prepares you for the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) exam. It costs $777 per credit, or $93,240 for 120 credits before transfer credit, and it isn't fully online. Choose it for coaching, on that track.

Parker University is a private nonprofit health-sciences school in Dallas, Texas, best known for chiropractic. Its Strength and Human Performance bachelor's runs online through three four-month trimesters a year and takes 120 semester credits: 30 general education, 67 major and 23 concentration. Jenna Romanelli, a registered dietitian who holds the CSCS, is the internship program director.

You pick one of two tracks. The practicum track has 80 hours of in-person observation, and the Strength and Conditioning concentration has a 300-hour internship. Admission follows Parker's undergraduate rules with no program GPA minimum. Parker's federal graduation rate is 74 percent for the whole university.

Undergraduate courses are 26-day modules inside three four-month trimesters, and Parker says programs start several times a year. Parker's catalog says online courses can include discussion boards, live chats, case studies, blogs and course projects. Full-time is 12 credits a term.

The in-person piece is the real schedule commitment. Practicum students spend 80 hours in a professional setting, documenting how people do their jobs. Concentration students work assigned schedules for 300 hours across 12 weeks in their last trimester, so if you work full time, you'll need leave or a flexible employer.

Who It Fits

• Future strength and conditioning coaches. The concentration puts you in a 300-hour internship at a training facility anywhere in the country, and the program director helps you find the site. Internship Experience courses run alongside it, designed to prepare you for the CSCS exam.
• Students bringing credits with them. Parker accepts credit from recognized accreditors at a grade of C- or better, plus up to 45 semester hours of CLEP, AP, IB, DANTES and ACE-recommended military training. At $777 a credit, those 45 hours are worth $34,965.
• Active-duty students. Parker's military rate is $250 per credit for undergraduate programs, so 120 credits costs $30,000 in tuition instead of $93,240. Parker says the rate doesn't cover housing, books, insurance or other indirect costs.
• Future physical therapy or chiropractic students. The plan includes Anatomy and Physiology I and II, General Chemistry I and College Physics I, each with a lab. Check your target school's prerequisite list, because one semester each of chemistry and physics may fall short.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone who can't get away for in-person hours. Even the practicum track asks for 80 hours of observation in a professional setting. The internship is 300 hours over 12 weeks, about 25 hours a week on a site-assigned schedule, in your last trimester.
• Budget-first shoppers. $93,240 is tuition alone. Compare it with our cheapest online exercise science degrees and with PennWest's online bachelor's, which lists less than half the per-credit price for Pennsylvania residents.
• Anyone who needs a CAAHEP-accredited degree for the ACSM exercise physiologist route. CAAHEP is the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. It isn't listed on Parker's pages or on the CAAHEP list we pulled on September 29, 2026. Browse the online exercise physiology degrees instead.

Most of the 67 major credits are hard science and practice. You take Anatomy and Physiology I and II, General Chemistry I and College Physics I, all with labs, then Exercise Physiology, which covers bioenergetics and the circulatory, respiratory and neuromuscular responses to exercise. Exercise Prescription and Application adds a lab on fitness assessment and exercise testing.

The rest leans toward sport: Strength and Conditioning Training, Therapeutic Modalities, Rehabilitation of Athletic Injuries, Motor Learning, Nutrition for Exercise Performance and Sport Psychology.

The practicum track's 23 concentration credits add Epidemiology and a capstone, where you write an original research design suitable for an institutional review board. The concentration replaces those two with Internship Experience I and II.

Courses the School Names

• Introduction to Strength and Human Performance
• Exercise Physiology (lecture + lab)
• Exercise Prescription and Application
• Strength and Conditioning Training
• Biomechanics
• Motor Learning and Skill Development
• Therapeutic Modalities
• Rehabilitation of Athletic Injuries
• Nutrition for Exercise Performance
• Sport Psychology

Standout Features

• Among the first schools to receive CASCE (NSCA) programmatic accreditation for a Strength and Human Performance bachelor's
• Two experiential tracks: 80-hour observational practicum or 300-hour full-time internship placed anywhere in the country
• Advisory board includes Dan John, Kelly Starrett and Brett Winchester
• Curriculum includes Therapeutic Modalities, Rehabilitation of Athletic Injuries and General Medicine in Sports alongside exercise physiology

Tuition is $777 per credit for 2026-27, up from $754 in the 2025-26 catalog. For 120 credits that's $93,240 before transfer credit. Parker adds a $90 online technology fee and a $64 student health fee every term, which comes to $1,540 across the 10-term minimum, plus one-time fees of $50 to apply, $45 for orientation and $60 to graduate. Plan on about $94,935 in billed costs.

Transfer credit is the biggest lever you control, since each credit that transfers removes $777. Books aren't billed, but Parker budgets $400 a term for them. For scale, BLS puts the median exercise physiologist wage at $59,460 (May 2025).

120 credits at $777 a credit comes to $93,240 in tuition, before fees.

Parker is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Its pages say the bachelor's is accredited by CASCE, the Council on Accreditation of Strength and Conditioning Education. NSCA's own list, which we pulled on September 29, 2026, names Parker's undergraduate Strength and Conditioning Concentration, not the practicum track. That matters from January 1, 2030, when U.S. CSCS candidates need a CASCE-accredited bachelor's.

Parker's catalog says graduates may be eligible for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) exercise physiologist certifications, ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP. But from August 15, 2027, candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program or one that has started the process, and Parker isn't on our CAAHEP list.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs, CSCS Certification Requirements.

The full rubric is on the methodology page. A factor marked Peer Median had no published input, so it counts at half weight.

• Parker's pages describe CASCE accreditation three ways. The program page says the bachelor's is accredited, the catalog says the bachelor's-level program is, and NSCA's list names only the Strength and Conditioning Concentration.
• The catalog says concentration students take four Internship Experience courses, but the curriculum table lists two, and each course description covers 75 hours. Ask how the other 150 hours are credited and whether they change your total.
• It's a small program. Federal data counts 3 bachelor's degrees awarded in this field in its latest year, so ask about cohort size and where recent graduates work.
• The internship arrives in your last trimester, which makes holding a full-time job through it hard.

• Does CASCE accreditation cover the practicum track, or only the Strength and Conditioning concentration, in writing?
• Are there four Internship Experience courses or two, and do any add credits beyond 120?
• What are the next start dates, and do the 26-day modules run back to back?
• How are the science and exercise physiology labs delivered online, and is any lab in person?
• Which internship sites have hosted online students in my region, and can my employer be the site?
• How many of my credits will transfer, and does military training count toward the 45-hour cap?
• Has the program started the CAAHEP process for ACSM-EP candidates after August 15, 2027?

Parker University is a small private health-sciences university in Dallas, Texas, best known for its Doctor of Chiropractic program and other health, wellness and business programs. Its Strength and Human Performance department offers online bachelor's and master's degrees with CASCE-accredited curricula and an in-person practicum or internship.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 31 of 46, bachelor's
• Best Online Bachelor's Programs Rank 31 of 46, bachelor's
• Best Online Strength and Conditioning Degrees Rank 7 of 12, bachelor's
• Best Online Sport Science Degrees Rank 3 of 5, bachelor's
• Best for Military Students Rank 10 of 21, bachelor's
• Best Degree Completion Programs Rank 24 of 34, bachelor's
• Best for Personal Trainers Rank 23 of 33, bachelor's
• Best Pre-Physical Therapy Programs Rank 16 of 24, bachelor's
• Best Pre-Health Programs Rank 15 of 23, bachelor's
• Best Certification-Ready Programs Rank 3 of 7, bachelor's
• Best Online Programs in Texas Rank 4 of 6, bachelor's

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